Stay on target

Long has the video game industry struggled to deal with the fact that we can only really engage two of our senses while playing games: sight and sound. When Nintendo put smells on the EarthBound box that basically destroyed the franchise in America, and the last time anyone talked about tasting video games was when Nintendo purposefully made Switch cartridges taste revolting.

However, feeling video games with our sense of touch has always had potential. Ever since the invention of the rumble pak games have found clever way to vibrate players. Pulse with the rhythm. Feel a gunshot in your chest. Count how many balls are rolling and HD rumbling around in this controller. This takes a mix advanced rumble tech as well as putting that tech inside different kinds of devices for the player to interact with. And at CES 2019 Razer revealed an entire ecosystem of rumble PC gaming tech under the Project HyperSense banner.

Project HyperSense uses haptic feedback, crisp and tactile rumble that’s found in most modern mobile phones, and spreads it across a variety of common PC gaming equipment. It’s in your chair, your mouse, your keyboard, and your headphones. However, by then syncing all of these HyperSense devices together, Razer can provide an immersive force feedback experience, surround sound but for rumble, D-BOX for playing video games.

HyperSense devices draw data from a game’s sound, since sound and vibration are already so linked. So say you’re playing a first-person shooter battle royale. HyperSense could use THX positional audio to vibrate one area of your headphones as a bullet whizzes by your head or translate reload sensations in your keyboard and mouse. There are less violent, more transcendental possible uses of the tech, too. Imagine a version of Wandersong where you can really feel the joy of the music around you from your head through your hands and down your back.

Of course, Razer is in the business of selling your gaming peripherals, and HyperSense needs multiple Razer peripherals to reach its full potential. The first announced HyperSense product are the Razer Nari Ultimate headphones. But expect to see, and more importantly feel, these other devices hopefully throughout 2019. For more on Razer check out their new Raptor monitor at CES and read up on their weird cryptocurrency scam.